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Governor-General to open Sister Cities Gardens 
The Governor-General, Sir Michael Hardie Boys, has confirmed that he will officially open the Sister Cities Gardens in Halswell Quarry Park. The event will be on 17 February next year, which gives Council Parks staff, volunteers and other workers another six months to prepare. John Taylor, chairman of the Turning Point 2000 Sister Cities Gardens' committee, says planting will be done all winter and paths will continue to be improved to ensure easy access for everyone. The plan is for every garden to have a theme or special feature. Stone carvings are currently being made in Songpa-Gu for the Korean garden and Chinese-designed carvings are being made here in Christchurch for the Gansu garden. A Japanese-designed pergola is being built for the entrance to the Kurashiki garden, and seats made from Halswell Quarry stone are being donated by the Carnation Society to the Christchurch, England garden. Planting is being extended in the Seattle garden. Christchurch has six sister cities but there are seven gardens being developed as a Turning Point 2000 project to celebrate the new millennium and beyond. The seventh is a Canterbury garden featuring native plants of the region. "These gardens will have long-term value to the city," says John Taylor. "I'm going to come back in a hundred years to look at them!" It has been proposed that a group of supporters be set up, similar to the successful Friends of the Botanic Gardens, to help with future development of the gardens. People are invited to suggest how the group should operate. There is a form available to fill in. Contact Turning Point 2000 for more information on 379 2008, email (TurningPoint2000@ccc.govt.nz) TurningPoint2000@ccc.govt.nz, website www.tp2000.org.nz pic: John Taylor with one of the works being carved by Aaron Seo, of Christchurch, for the Korean sister city garden. |
